An unexpected sunny morning in late October enticed families, friends and neighbors in SF's Lakeview district to grab brushes and join a community painting session at the latest Precita mural-in-progress.

Lead artist Max Marttila manned the scaffolds, mixed pigments, and made sure that volunteers of all ages kept their brushstrokes between the lines.

The mural at the corner of Broad and Plymouth is titled "Lakeview,” the name still favored by residents over OMI, a newer acronym for the combined Oceanside, Merced, and Ingleside neighborhoods.

Painted on the side of Lacy’s Barbershop, the mural celebrates a scene in which the current barber, Lloyd Lacy, cuts the hair of Mr. Furlough, the previous barber.

The mural features a salute to the neighborhood’s natural setting, with the Orizaba Rocky Outcrop and an abundance of fog.

Traversing the panoramic vista are workers laying down the tracks of two Muni lines: the M Oceanview line that serves the district and the old green F Train.

Framed portraits pay tribute to many community leaders, including Dr. Annette Shelton (who works around the corner) and Inner City Youth (ICY) founder Michael L. Brown, who recently passed away.

"His inclusion helps keep his legacy going," notes ICY member Felicia Edosa. "It's something we can look to everyday." She means this literally: the ICY building faces the mural from the opposite side of Broad Street.

Holding a brush and tin of blue paint, SF Supervisor John Avalos expressed his faith in projects, like the mural, that bring people together to validate their experiences in the face of economic stress and social change. The largely working-class Lakeview/OMI district is home to the city's most ethnically diverse population (more than 50% foreign-born, according to Avalos), and has the city's highest concentration of families and seniors.

It was a whirlwind process that transported a team of Precita Eyes muralists from San Francisco to Boston and concluded two weeks later with Northeastern University's newest landmark: a monumental mural of Latino student pride.

"We Are All Streams Leading to the Same River / Todos somos arroyos del mismo rio" covers three sides of the Latino/a Student Cultural Center (LSCC)building at 104 Forsythe Street.

This 25 ft. x 125 ft. (roughly 2,200 square feet) mural depicts the history and presence Latinos at Northeastern University campus and was initiated by students seeking to give visibility to their culture on campus.
“When I was a freshman, not a lot of people knew where the LSCC was," student Amy Lyu told a local newspaper. "There wasn’t even a plaque on the building. We just wanted to give LSCC some recognition. And what better way to do that than a mural?”

The work is part of Northeastern's Public Art Initiative. But unlike other commissioned works, the mural has been almost completely student-driven.

Precita Eyes Muralists is one of nine treasured and historic local businesses named to the city's first legacy registry.

Soon to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Precita Eyes has been painting and repainting its beloved Mission district since 1977.

The registry was created last year with the passage of Proposition J. Businesses (including non-profits like Precita Eyes) approved for the registry are eligible for grants to safeguard their continued presence in their neighborhoods.

To qualify, businesses must have been operating in the city for at least 30 years and face the risk of displacement; have made distinctive contributions to neighborhood history and identity; and continue to maintain the features or traditions (including craft, culinary or art forms) that define them.

Precita Eyes was nominated for the legacy designation by SF Supervisor David Campos, who singled it out as "one of only a handful of community mural centers in the country... training artists in its unique community mural process, offering mural classes, and working closely with the entire community."

"This organization has played an important role in the history and identity of District 9," Campos stated. The designation was announced in August.

Precita Eyes Muralists and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation celebrate the community garden’s newest bloom.

November 16, 2016 -- Every other Wednesday is harvest day in the Tenderloin People’s Garden, a patch of green in downtown SF's Tenderloin district. But on November 16, the garden bloomed with a different type of offering: the dedication of the new “Growing Together” mural.

"The mural is a high fidelity representation of the energy in the neighborhood," said local gardener Kasey Asberry, of UC Hastings Law School (located across the street), “and of human scale amid enormous institutions.” Her comment is well-illustrated by this drone’s-eye view of the mural and surrounding buildings. The Tenderloin is the "undiscovered garden district of San Francisco," she noted, with at least a dozen gardens.

Precita Eyes artists Susan Cervantes, Yuka Ezoe and Max Marttila were joined by Tenderloin Artists Collaborative member Ira Watkins, TNDC staff, garden volunteers, and neighbors in designing and painting. Asberry praised Precita Eyes for its approach to convoking the community and "really representing its vision."

Artist Ira Watkins described his participation this way: "I stumbled into a good opportunity and I'm so glad I did. I met great people and I hope the public will enjoy our work."

As soon as the scaffolding came down in September, Precita Eyes and the TNDC were honored by SF Beautiful with its Seven Hills Award for making “a significant contribution to the creation of unique neighborhood character.” The SF Beautiful blogpost describes "Growing Together "as “a vibrant mural that exemplifies the community at its zenith.”

The MuralAt the mural’s center, a woman holding a shovel and a man with beets form the pillars of a gateway topped by a cityscape of Tenderloin landmarks. Vines spell out “Tenderloin People’s Garden” above a sunrise of San Francisco fog, signifying the early mornings when gardeners work. Hands cradle a heart of leafy greens, neighbors harvest together, and a guitarist plays notes transformed into birds, kale and spinach. The melody creates a spiral of water bearing a boat symbolizing the many journeys that bring people to the Tenderloin.

The People’s Garden
Created in 2010 on a vacant lot near SF City Hall in an area with no produce stores, the Tenderloin People’s Garden grows healthy food its low-income neighbors. Volunteers of all ages tend the plot and produce is distributed free twice-monthly.

Precita Eyes Muralists & Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
welcome all to the community celebration and dedication for TNDC’s Tenderloin People’s Garden’s new mural, “Growing Together”.

Corner of Larkin & McAllister
November 16th, 2016
4pm-5pm

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New Mural Celebrates Latinx Community

By Patrick Burgard, news correspondent

Walking down Forsyth Street, it’s hard to miss the Latino/a Student Cultural Center’s (LSCC) bright new exterior, which got a vibrant makeover this week in the form of a mural covering the building’s whole facade.
The LSCC unveiled the mural, titled “We Are All Streams Leading to the Same River,” at a special ceremony on Tuesday. The artwork is rich with luminous depictions of Latinx cultural images and symbols of unity such as an Incan person, a tree with a multicolored fist growing out of it, a couple dancing in traditional clothing and many Latin American flags spawning from the LSCC logo.

“In a global society, your social identity and your background are very important, but it doesn’t matter where we come from,” Lydia Vega, coordinator of student services for the LSCC, said. “We’re all one familia, one community, and we support each other. This is our hub.”
Members of the LSCC collaborated with renowned muralist Susan Cervantes and her foundation Precita Eyes, a community-based mural arts organization from San Francisco, to design the mural.

Muralist Susan Cervantes and members of Precita Eyes worked with Northeastern students to design and paint a mural for the Northeastern Latino/a Student Cultural Center. The mural, the latest installment in the university's Public Art Initiative, is based on community and student input.

Gathering 10+ master muralists and mural groups, and 20 at risk youth through a series of artists residenies and workshops culminating in the painting of 10+ murals along the Berkeley/Oakland Border. The theme of the festival and artists teams will be focused on migration and displacements in our community. They will invite artists and artt eams to come paint 10+ murals through the course of a week.

Honolulu muralist Estria Miyashiro suffered a memorable blow to his ego in 1984, shortly after leaving Oahu to attend Academy of Art College in San Francisco.

An 18-year-old wannabe graffiti artist, Miyashiro discovered that no one cared to document his christening of his new stomping grounds with an eponymous graffiti tag. The lack of notoriety did not agree with him.
“I used the disappointment as fuel to get as good as those guys,” says Miyashiro, referring to Bay Area graffiti pioneers such as Dream, Zephyr and Cuba. He eventually became a fixture on the mid-’80s scene, emblazoning more than 1,000 walls with his art, which by then had evolved beyond tagging to larger, hip-hop-inflected murals. But Miyashiro’s prolificacy eventually caught up with him — in 1994, his arrest for vandalism made news on CNN.

A muralist position at San Francisco’s nonprofit Precita Eyes helped Miyashiro channel his artistry for good, or as he says, “connect my artwork with the community.” From 1994 to 1998, he taught a youth mural class and started the Urban Arts Youth Festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in July at Precita Park.

Here are San Francisco's very first Legacy Business recipients Nine business now qualify for public largess, if landlords agree

Nine months after voters passed Prop J, the city has conferred the special laurel of Legacy Business onto nine classic San Francisco joints.

A Legacy Business is any locally owned commercial outfit that’s been open for at least 30 years (younger businesses can sometimes squeeze in under the bar, though), garners a nomination from the mayor or Board of Supervisors, and gets final approval from the Small Business Commission.
The freshman class has nine members:
Two Jack’s Nik’s Place: The comfort food restaurant on Haight that’s been slinging seafood since 1977, festooned with vintage posters of the likes of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.

Toy Boat Dessert Café: The Richmond’s old familiar ice cream shop since 1982. Brooklyn-born owner Jesse Fink made headlines in 2007 by kicking Starbucks off of the block.

Precita Eyes Muralists Association: Non-profits as well as retail outfits can qualify. Precita Eyes has been painting and repainting the Mission since 1977.

Pacific Café: The seafood place on Geary with the longstanding (and rhyming) policy that says "If you stand in line, you get a free glass of wine." No wonder it’s been open since 1974.

Lone Star Saloon: One of SoMa’s longest serving gay bars has fallen on harder times lately, as Internet hook-ups and social progress diminishes the necessity of the old San Francisco neighborhood gay bar scene.
Gilman’s Kitchens and Baths: Opened as a hardware store in 1954 but went into the kitchen and bathroom design business in the ‘90s. Their work pops up in house ads all over town.

Community Boards: Another non-profit, billing itself as the oldest mediator and negotiator firm in the country after turning 40 this year.
Macchiarini Creative Design & Metalworks: Elder statesmen of the group, this metalworking artisan’s shop sat on Grant for 60 years.

Initially, the Legacy Business title is just a gold star. But because voters approved it, registered Legacy Businesses can also theoretically benefit from the city’s Historic Preservation Fund.

If a landlord agrees to give his or her resident Legacy Business a ten year lease with no rent hikes, the city will award grants to both landlord and business.
While almost everyone wants to keep longtime small businesses doing their small business, not everyone is a fan of the fund. Because politicians handle the nominations and approval, critics allege that it’s a tool for elected officials to play favorites.

But voters approved the idea by nearly 57 percent, so apparently the fear of losing the Roxie outweighed the fear that political bosses might abuse the system.

Join us for a our 20th Urban Youth Arts Festival
on July 23rd, 2016 at Precita Park!

This is a special year for us so please join us to celebrate 20th amazing years and also the success
in preserving our original studio at 348 Precita Ave. There will be music, free food, and lots of
painting! Line up to be announced.

Fun for the whole family. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

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A New Color: The Art of Being Edythe Boone

Co-Sponsored by Wareham Development in honor of the Berkeley FILM Foundation.

Bay Area artist and activist Edythe “Edy” Boone is a sprightly septuagenarian who seems only to gain energy over the years. A celebrated muralist and painter, Boone has left her mark on the impressive walls of the San Francisco Women’s Building “Maestrapiece” and on the tough, tear-tinged faces of the city’s “We Remember” AIDS tribute, while also painting vibrant portraits that hang in homes and galleries. Born in New York, she was raised for a few years by Jewish foster parents before being adopted into an African American Baptist church. In the late 1970s she moved west to raise her own children in Berkeley. From Reagan-era racism to the chokehold death of her nephew Eric Garner at the hands of New York police, Boone has lived through tremendous strife. Since she was a girl, she has aspired “to develop a new color no one has seen in life,” and this film captures the artist’s unflagging determination in every frame. —Zoe Pollak

MAPP is a community arts and music event that takes place in the Mission for11 years. MAPP is always the first Saturday of the month every two months.MAPP is always free. Mapp will be encompassing over 14 venues as well as public spaces, street corners, bart stations, cafes, bars, taquerias, homes all over La Mission. The event features taking common spaces and for one orchestrated beautifully chaotic evening, transforming them into whatever we want including free live music, Spoken word, Performance art, Film screenings, BBQ's, garage sales, unorthodox conversations and happenings.

San Francisco is a city of bridges, puentes, all connecting the land and water to the world outside its limits. The Mission District lies in the heart of the City, reflecting the diversity, beauty and turbulence present within, particularly in recent years. Focused at the center is the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, MCCLA, where the Mural Puentes Project would originate. MCCLA cordially invites the community at large to "La Puerta en el Puente del Tiempo" A benefit Exhibition for The Puentes Project: MCCLA Mural Restoration with paintings by Carlos Loarca & Betsie Miller-Kusz, founders of the mural. The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, May 20th from 6:30pm-9:30pm in the Inti Raymi Gallery. Enjoy live Andean music by GRUPO PAYANI and light refreshments. General admission is $5.

The iconic Mission Cultural Center Mural was painted in 1982 by three artists, led by Carlos Loarca, and assisted by Manuel Villamor and Betsie Miller-Kisz. The mural of 3700 square fee, covers the front and side façade of the building at 2868 Mission St, near 24th St. It was one of the first murals to feature the symbolism of the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations. The theme also included representations of the many artistic activities inside the center, all visually united within the huge body of an ancestral Indian figure crossing both facades. The mural is still intact, even in a time of great economic change in the Mission District. The creation of the mural was documented in Anatomy of a Mural, an award winning documentary film by Rick Goldsmith.

The Puentes Project would focus on the restoration of this mural, now badly deteriorated over 30 year's time The project is visualized as a means to build contemporary bridges in the midst of great division and displacement in the Mission. The bridges would be built between past and present, between generations young and older, between the changing Mission populations. The mural restoration would be directed by the original muralists, but would include a younger generation of artists as well. The muralists believe this huge painting project would begin to heal some of the Mission District wounds, as the first mural did back in the 1980's. Puentes would seek to accomplish this with mural paint, not politics.

Join The Mexican Museum for a Community Painting Day on April 30 at the Site of Its New Home in the Yerba Buena Gardens Art District
￼Precita Eyes mural at site of new Mexican Museum, 706 Mission Street

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – April 26, 2016 – The Mexican Museum invites everyone to come out on April 30 from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. to help finish its mural that is being painted on the outdoor barricade wall at its new home 706 Mission St. Anyone interested in helping paint is welcome to stop by and lend a paintbrush. The Mexican Museum commissioned Precita Eyes Muralists to paint the mural.

What: Mexican Museum Barricade will be made up of two murals. The various designs include a pattern of Mexican motifs; iconic images from The Museum’s collection; the Huichol Sun God; images of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; the phrase Mano a Mano next to a portrait of Peter Rodriguez, The Mexican Museum’s founder.

Where: Barricade wall surrounding the site of the future home of The Mexican Museum, 706 Mission St., at Jessie Square Plaza, in the Yerba Buena Gardens Art District.

When: Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Who: Precita Eyes, The Mexican Museum supporters and community members

About The Mexican Museum:
Founded by the well-known San Francisco artist Peter Rodriguez in 1975 in the heart of the Mission District, The Mexican Museum is located at the Fort Mason Center. It is the realization of his vision to present the aesthetic expression of the Mexican and Mexican American people. Today, the museum’s vision has expanded to include the full scope of the Mexican, Chicano, and Latino experience – including the arts, history, and heritage of their respective cultures.

Direct Your Tax Dollars: Voting Now Open For Participatory Budgeting In District 7

Want more murals in your neighborhood? College scholarships for students from low-income families? More visible crosswalks? District 7 residents have the unique opportunity to decide which of these—and other—proposals their tax dollars will fund, through this year's participatory budgeting process.

If you're over 16 and live in the district (outlined below), you've got until April 22nd to cast your vote, either online or at one of three polling places (Laguna Honda Hospital, West Portal library, or Ingleside library). The 2016 ballot contains proposals from three categories: safety, culture, and neighborhood services; there's also a $75,000 proposal to revitalize West Portal Elementary's schoolyard.

Since participatory budgeting debuted in San Francisco in 2013, three of the city's 11 districts have used it in various years. This year, however, District 7, represented by Supervisor Norman Yee, stands alone in letting residents determine how a small portion ($500,000) of the city's budget ($8.96 billion for fiscal year 2016-17) will be spent.

Supervisor Yee hopes other districts will adopt the program down the line. "This year, I am the only Supervisor to have Participatory Budgeting," he said in an email, "but I hope to see this successful program expand citywide."

Direct democracy is gaining steam in D7, according to Erica Maybaum, a legislative aide to Yee. Voting opened at 5am last Friday, and as of this morning, they'd counted 4,553 votes from 1,600 voters, already surpassing last year's two-week total.

We recently reported on the struggle to tidy up 16th and Market, which has affected both the Castro/Upper Market CBD and The Castro Republic, a forthcoming restaurant at that corner. The intersection has been problematic for years, accumulating garbage and attracting homeless encampments.

But the corner of 16th and Market is also home to one of the Castro’s most important pieces of public art: a mural titled The Hope For the World Cure. Painted in 1998, it commemorates the Castro community’s struggle with the AIDS epidemic.

We recently received an anonymous tip that The Castro Republic was considering painting over the mural. The restaurant’s owner, Juan Romo, said that while he'd considered it, he'd ultimately decided against it. No plans are currently in the works to paint over the mural.

But while the mural as a whole may not be in jeopardy, many in the community hope that the efforts to clean up the corner of 16th and Market might also draw renewed attention to the mural's need for ongoing care and attention.

The Story Behind The Hope For The World Cure
The Hope for the World Cure was painted in 1998, on the back wall of what was then Bagdad Café. The community mural workshop was a collaboration between Precita Eyes Muralists and Art From The Heart Heals, and was made possible through a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission.

According to Susan Cervantes, founder and executive director of Precita Eyes Muralists and the director of The Hope for a World Cure project, the mural brought 17 artists together to design, plan, and paint. All but two of the artists had been directly affected by HIV/AIDS.

Please vote for the expansion of our Laguna Honda Mural! We are on the ballot for the Participatory Budgeting grant in District 7.

The mural expansion will extend the 200 foot long mural another 150ft on the left from the entrance of Laguna Honda Hospital to the bus hub. The mural depicts the history and beauty of the surrounding area and celebrates 150 years of the hospital's service to the city. The proposed second phase; 150 foot section, directly across from the station, will focus on the early history of the area, the Ohlone Indians who lived there, and link the Lagoon to the ocean. The completed mural will cover what until now has been a dreary and vandalized dark green wall, the first object seen by hundreds of passengers who leave the station each day to walk home, visit the hospital, or wait for busses to nearby neighborhoods. Our vision is that the completed mural will present a warm and colorful entrance to the Laguna Honda area and its neighborhoods and will welcome people to the hospital, which has been cut off visually by the unattractive wall. As in every Precita Eyes project, the mural will be a collaboration between the Hospital staff, patients, and neighbors. Our goal, aside from the completion of a beautiful and inspiring mural, is a strengthened bond between the hospital and the surrounding community.

Brava's annual event takes over the streets and alleys of the Mission for its fourth year to celebrate and preserve the living cultural heritage of the Mission. The Bay Area's most dynamic dance companies and performing artists offer an artistic interpretation of the murals with narration by Precita Eyes Muralists docents that offers an intricate look at each work of art and its relationship to the culture and life of the Mission community.

2016 Summer Internship
with Precita Eyes Muralists
PE is seeking qualified interns for the summer/fall to assist with the NEH-Grant awarded collections preservation project. Interns will gain professional experience in working with one of the largest muralist archives of the nation, and be part of a team of wonderful artists and museum professionals.

San Francisco, Calif. — After many months of effort, the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) has been able to purchase 344-348 Precita Avenue in San Francisco, so that all tenants can remain at affordable rents.

The commercial tenant is Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, which has for decades created colorful murals, especially in the Mission community. Precita Eyes was nominated as the city’s first legacy business, per Prop J passed by San Francisco voters last November.

The apartments house four working-class residents – educators, musicians and therapists – who have long called the neighborhood home. All tenants were at risk of eviction from buyers looking to flip the building.

The Mission Economic Development Agency has purchased a building on Precita Avenue, which houses the first location of the Precita Eyes Muralists as well as four rent-controlled tenants.

The $1.35 million deal will keep both tenants and muralists in place at affordable rents. Moreover, MEDA staff say they have developed a new funding mechanism – raising money from neighbors – to act faster in future acquisition.

“What MEDA does and what the Community Land Trust does is that they secure this property to remain as affordable for ever,” said resident Dennis Mackenzie, a high school teacher and proposal writer. “When I die, and I plan on living here until the day I die, it’ll be passed on to someone else in my type of income situation.”

Building bought with $400k down payment raised by community group, neighbors

CURBED San Francisco - MArch 16, 2016

You can stop holding your breath: Precita Eyes Muralists isn't being evicted, and neither are the folks in the apartments upstairs. That’s according to the Mission Economic Development Agency, the Latino-centric community group who now say they’ve successfully closed the deal on their bid to buy the 100-plus year old building on behalf of the tenants.

The Precita Eyes Muralist Association was founded in 1977, and recently became the first nominee for the city’s Prop J-enabled Legacy Business Registry (although now it looks like they probably won’t need the help). Precita Eyes already owns a building on 24th Street, but the actual Precita Avenue workshop where they teach art classes to kids has always been a rental.

Last August, the dreaded "For Sale" sign appeared on the property. The art association responded by posting a sign of their own reading, "Please Don’t Buy This Building." In December, MEDA stepped in, and the two groups cooked up a plan to raise money and buy the place themselves.

"I have nominated the first San Francisco Business to the Legacy Business Registry - Precita Eyes Muralists Association, Inc., a non-profit community arts organization. One of only a handful of community mural centers in the country, Precita Eyes Muralists was founded in 1977. Operating out of a small studio space in the Precita Valley Community Center, founding director Susan Cervantes along with community volunteers and artists completed many portable and monumental mural projects. Precita Eyes train artists in their unique community mural process, offer mural classes and work closely with the entire community. This organization has played such an important role in the history and identity of District 9 and it is an honor to nominate Precita Eyes for the Legacy Business registry.

For years I have been working to create the Legacy Business Registry and historic preservation grant programs that the voters approved last year with the passage of Proposition J. I am so excited to see all this work come together. The Office of Small Business is now accepting nominations for the registry from Supervisors and the Mayor's Office. Businesses - both for and non-profit - are eligible for the registry if they meet the following criteria:
• Been in operation in SF for 30 years or for more than 20 years if the business faces significant risk of displacement;

• Has contributed to the neighborhood's history and/or identity; and

• Is committed to maintaining the physical features or traditions that define the business, including craft, culinary, or art forms.

Businesses that make it on to the registry are eligible for grant programs to ensure they continue to contribute to our neighborhoods for decades to come.

If you are a business in District 9, meet the criteria, and would like to be nominated to the Registry, please contact my Chief of Staff, Hillary Ronen, at hillary.ronen@sfgov.org."

The Red Poppy Art House presents Stories of Revolt, a trans-Bay, interdisciplinary exploration in narratives of belonging and displacement, culturally generative creative practices, and restorative justice. In collaboration with Dance Mission’s annual festival, D.I.R.T. – Dance in Revolt(ing) Times, the Red Poppy will feature original works from music, dance, film and storytelling artists that investigate how image, body and language become tools for transformation in a sacred space.

MAPP SCHEDULE:

3:00-4:00pm: From Azonto to Zouk: Afro-Urban Dance Stories with Nkei Oruche, Presented by Dance Mission Theater’s ... See More

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Precita Eyes Muralists Wins Grant to

Preserve Forty Years of Mural Archives

San Francisco, California: Precita Eyes Muralists, a non profit-community arts organization known for its dedication to mural art in the Mission District, has been awarded a six thousand dollar Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This grant will allow the organization to begin cataloging and preserving over 15,000 documents in its collection for future use by artists, scholars and the general public. These drawings, photographs and videos cover 40 years of art in the Mission, including documentation of over 500 Precita Eyes murals and hundreds of others, many no longer existing. The archive also includes publications, newsletters and magazines covering the outburst of artistic effort in the Mission from the 1970's and 80's.

Precita Eyes Muralists was founded in the Mission District in 1977, dedicated to enriching and beautifying the urban environment in a way that expresses the interests and cultural history of the community. Precita Eyes' collaborative public murals have involved hundreds of volunteers, while 15,000 students have participated in its youth and adult mural workshops. Over 110,000 students, local residents and tourists have taken its tours of Mission murals.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States, promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes it's mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers. NEH Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections.

For the NEH Grant, Precita Eyes will work with Berkeley archivist Dr. Cornelia Bleul-Gohlke to create a catalog of its materials and a complete preservation plan. Dr. Bleul-Gohlke, a mural artist herself, has extensive archiving experience both in Germany and the United States. Once this initial work is done, Precita Eyes can apply for subsequent NEH grants to support the next phases of its preservation efforts. Precita Eyes plans to eventually create a permanent home for the archive accessible to all those interested in the history of the murals of San Francisco.

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“A Neighborhood of Neighbors” —
This Mission Organization Shows Off Local Art

On a Saturday afternoon mural tour with Patricia Rose, you’re likely to encounter a gaggle of kids running after her calling out, “Teacher!” and eagerly asking if she remembers them from art class.

And as you round the corner of one of the Mission’s streets, you’ll probably also bump into one of Patricia’s neighbors whose kids she — and the rest of the neighborhood — helped to raise.

Precita Eyes Mural Tours does public tours every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 1:30pm. Tours start at $15/person, or $12/per San Francisco resident. For help booking a tour, ask your Scout or text “mural tours” to 415-915-2421.

A new mural is taking shape in front of Laguna Honda Hospital, just ahead of the hospital’s 150th anniversary.

Mural arts nonprofit Precita Eyes is transforming the 200-foot-long retaining wall at the hospital’s front entrance into a procession of images from the neighborhood through time. Painting began in November, and though the finishing touches should be done in time for the new year, Precita Eyes may extend the mural if they secure additional funding.

The project is the latest from the community arts organization, and is its first in the Forest Hill neighborhood. Headquartered on 24th Street in the Mission, Precita Eyes has spread mural art to urban areas throughout the Bay Area and internationally since its founding in 1977, with a particular focus on the Mission District.

Precita Eyes Muralists is one of San Francisco’s most beloved institutions of public art. This collaboration-minded, community-centric organization of art enthusiasts has been painting the Mission – literally – for over three decades. Offering art classes, one-of-a-kind souvenirs, and guided walking tours, Precita Eyes is best known for the more than 50 colorful community murals that it has painted throughout the neighborhood.

These murals capture the Mission district’s history, culture, and evolution in a way that is equally stunning and telling. Each of these murals is more than just a wall, more than a series of paint strokes, designs, and colors. These murals represent unique stories. Fortunately, we have individuals like Patricia Rose, tour coordinator at Precita Eyes, who share these stories with community members and visitors alike.

Patricia’s involvement with Precita Eyes stretches back to the late 1970s, when it was just a small group of artists who met on Thursday evenings to plan murals and to discuss wall space. Years later, the group grew into a recognized arts non-profit. Actually, Precita Eyes is one of only a handful of community muralist non-profits in the country, with similar organizations based in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles..

In 1998, 2.5 million people around the world died from AIDS, and 5.8 million people — including 500,000 under the age of 15 — became newly infected with the HIV virus. That was also the year Susan Cervantes created her mural, Hope for the World Cure, on the outer wall of the Bagdad Cafe, in the heart of the Castro, where the AIDS crisis had hit particularly hard.
Although the number of global annual deaths and infections has fallen, there is still no cure or vaccine for AIDS. Cervantes' artwork is a tribute to those who've died, and to those with the disease who are living with it. "It still applies," Cervantes says of her mural.

About 20 of the artists who helped Cervantes design and plan Hope for the World Cure had the disease, and for some, contributing to its creation was a challenge.

___________________________________ Family of Grocers Adds New Market in SF Mission

On its second day, Gus’s Market on the corner of 17th and Harrison was already bustling. The amply proportioned warehouse, the third market in the Vardakastanis family, is stocked with the usual rows of colorful produce, meats, dairy and other staples as well as craft beers and a whole corner full of wines. It opened last Thursday.

MAPP is a community arts and music event that takes place in the Mission for 11 years.

MAPP is always the first Saturday of the month every two months.

MAPP is always free.

Mapp will be encompassing over 14 venues as well as public spaces, street corners, bart stations, cafes, bars, taquerias, homes all over La Mission. The event features taking common spaces and for one orchestrated beautifully chaotic evening, transforming them into whatever we want including free live music, Spoken word, Performance art, Film screenings, BBQ's, garage sales, unorthodox conversations and happenings.

NEXT MAPP:
Saturday, December 5th
Dedicated to Global RefugeesNo Place was Made for War
Everyone Deserves a Home

It's that time of year again! Wing Wings is gearing up for the 4rd annual Wing Wings Chicken Wing Eating Contest! Everyone had a great time last year at SOMA StEast Food Park and raised a bunch of money for Curry Without Worry. This year's festivities will be held at StEat Food Park again on Saturday October 10th from Noon - 4pm, co-sponsored by Wing Wings and PBR.

We need honorable and worthy contestants for each of 2 events:

1. A timed event: Who can eat the most Angry Korean Wings in 10 minutes. Water will be available.

2. A hella hella hot competition: Who can eat 10 hella hella hot wings the fastest. We will call time after 10 minutes; contestants need to sit at the table for 5 additional minutes after finishing with no food or drink.

Interested contestants must come up with at least $150 in donations for our chosen non-profit, Precita Eyes. Participants can also get sponsored by their employer or business to aid in raising funds. Once contestants are chosen, we will set you up with an online donations page.

Come join us, eat some food and watch as our contestants battle it out. There will be a variety of food vendors set up at StEat Food Park, kid-friendly activities, specials from our co-sponsor PBR and great raffle prizes.

October 3rd MAPP
Mission Arts Performance Project
"Breaking the School To Prison Pipeline"

"Using music and art to expose the injustices of the American prison industrial complex system and to create and inspire a more humain justice free of racism, sexism and oppression of alternative gender identities"-Marcus Shelby

MAPP is a community arts event that takes place in the Mission the first Saturday every two months. MAPP is always free. Mapp will be encompassing over 14 venues as well as public spaces, street corners, bart stations, cafes, bars, taquerias, homes all over La Mission. The event features taking common spaces and for one orchestrated beautifully chaotic evening, transforming them into whatever we want including free live music, Spoken word, Performance art, Film screenings, BBQ's, garage sales,unorthodox conversations and happenings

Susan Cervantes is a muralist and dedicated artist, a pioneer of the San Francisco community mural art movement, and the founder and director of the Precita Eyes Muralists in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Susan is responsible for more than 400 murals that are considered some of the finest in the U.S. She is dedicated to enhancing the environment through the creation of murals while involving and educating the community about the process and history of public community mural art.

View program schedule or download brochure & registration form
Register online! Secure online registration with credit card available here
National Mural Symposium 2015 is a professional development opportunity for mural artists, arts administrators, educators, public art consultants and developers of community space.

Since 1996, Mural Routes has organized the National Mural Symposium to provide a space for reflection; for mural artists, educators, project managers and enthusiasts to ‘teach, learn and share’ together. Over the weekend of the National Mural Symposium we will reflect on our own experiences and projects, on the current trends and challenges of mural making, and about our work’s impact and how we are moving forward. We invite you to join in this reflection and grow with us!

Program highlights include:

Municipalities – Mural funding, programs and policies with a panel from Canada and the U.S.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, people crowded the sidewalks of the Mission District, strolling past a myriad of restaurants from which enticing aromas wafted into the air, shops selling a variety of wares, and markets edged with bins of fresh produce. Enjoying the warm weather in one of the sunniest areas in the city, visitors stopped to admire the magnificent and often poignant murals gracing the buildings, homes and alleys.
The community takes its name from Misión San Francisco de Asís, better known as Mission Dolores, founded in 1776 by Father Francisco Palou and built by Ohlone Indians. The rich Latino heritage of this vibrant neighborhood intertwines cultures from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and other Latin American countries.

Take a wander to appreciate the mix of murals painted on the exterior of homes, garage doors and backyard fences along Balmy Alley, nestled between 24th and 25th streets. Artists first used their brushes, paints and talents here three decades ago to protest human rights atrocities and political upheavals in Central America. The murals continue to reflect socially conscious themes, from those lost to AIDS to the continuing gentrification of the neighborhood. Since the murals change, Balmy Alley is a place to return to again and again. Balmy Alley. www.balmyalley.com.
To gain a better understanding of the history and context of murals in the Mission, take one of the guided walking tours offered by the Precita Eyes Muralists Association. They include the Mission Trail Mural Walk, spotlighting murals on 24th Street, in Balmy Alley and at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. (11 a.m. Saturdays; $3-$15).

This arts organization has transformed the aesthetic landscape since its founding by Susan and Luis Cervantes and fellow artists in 1977. Featuring a visitors center and an arts studio, the nonprofit works to enhance urban environments by sponsoring and completing mural projects in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. It also offers weekly art classes for children/youths and educates the public on the history and process of public community mural art. Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center, 2981 24th St., S.F. (415) 285-2287. Precita Eyes Mural Arts Studio, 348 Precita Ave., S.F. (415) 285-2311. www.precitaeyes.org.

Precita Eyes Muralists Association and Center is paying a special tribute to El Tecolote and some of its most respected volunteers by featuring them on a mural in the heart of the Mission District, on the side of Philz Coffee, at the corner of 24th and Folsom streets.

The mural shows the El Tecolote logo above a photo of some of its staff from the 1980s, and also prominently depicts the late longtime translator and calendar editor Alfonso Texidor (who passed away on Christmas Day 2014) reading poetry.

The design was created in April and painting started in the second week of May, said Fred Alvarado, director of the mural. With the help of directors Alvarado and Max Martilla and about 20 Precita Eyes’ volunteers, the mural should be finished in mid June.

Though the recent rise in housing costs has changed the landscape of the community, Precita Eyes is honoring El Tecolote and giving the Mission District residents a piece of history that has been present within San Francisco’s Latino community for more than 40 years.

Included on the mural, which is already catching the attention of onlookers, are El Tecolote founder Juan Gonzales and current Acción Latina Executive Director Georgiana Hernandez, as well as former volunteers Carlos Valdes, Tina Avila, Patricia Vattuone, Hilda Ayala, Rudy Gallardo and Ana Montes.
“People connect with it as it keeps developing,” said Alvarado.
The words “Presente” and “Familia” are written in big red letters, which represents the Latino presence in the community.

“We’re here,” said Alvarado. “The Mission was created by middle-class workers. The Latino community is rooted, we’re not ready to turn over.”

Precita Eyes is dedicated to creating artwork throughout the Mission District that represents the community and simultaneously promotes local businesses. Murals have been seen in the Mission since the 1970s, according to Alvarado, which means more than 40 years of historic art from Chicanos in the Mission is on public display.

Presenting the art of EMMY LOU PACKARDAn exhibit of reprinted artwork from the original linoleum block prints of Emmy Lou Packard (1914–1998). Packard was a close friend & colleague of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and a well known artist in her own right. She painted murals in San Francisco and Berkeley, was Diego Rivera’s chief assistant on the Pan American Unity mural for the Golden Gate International Exposition, helped Frida with her artwork, and lived with the couple for a time in Mexico. In addition, Emmy Lou Packard was an active member of the community mural movement in San Francisco’s Mission District.

What goes West must always return East because New York is still the center of the American art market. California has gone on a cross-country road trip to New York City with the exhibition Left Coast: California Political Art. On view through May 30 at the City University of New York (CUNY) Grad Center’s James Gallery, a space across from the Empire State Building on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, the show speaks to a range of contemporary political realities in the Golden State. Curated by Nadiah Fellah, who began her career in the painting and sculpture department at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) before heading back to get a PhD in Art History from CUNY, tells Hyperallergic that she wanted to “take up where past exhibitions that historicized the legacies of radicalism in California had left off.”
The exhibition responds to contemporary political movements and policies from the last 10 years, many of which are known for originating in California. “I was thinking [about the] immigration rights movement, Prop 8/ the anti-gay marriage bill, Occupy, education reform, and the school-to-prison pipeline,” says Fellah. The group exhibition includes work by Andrew Schoultz, the Bay Area-based mural collective Precita Eyes Mural Collective, international artist collective Futurefarmers (which was founded by San Francisco artist Amy Franceschini), Evan Bissell, Jennifer Moon, PERSIA and DADDIE$ PLA$TIK, Lari Pittman, to name just a few.
Since I did not have a chance to see the show in person from where I live in Los Angeles, I got in touch with Fellah to learn more about the California political concepts that she has been investigating in New York.

Acacia Gonsalves and Hurricane Samba entertain the crowd at the Carnaval street festival on Harrison Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, May 23, 2015.

San Francisco’s 37th annual Carnaval festival kicked off the two-day celebration Saturday with its street fair in the Mission District, full of music, dancing, vendors hawking everything from Warriors merchandise to a marijuana delivery service, and food ranging from paella to mango-on-a-stick. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

For decades, the hundreds of murals in San Francisco’s Mission District have served as a visual history of the neighborhood’s diverse Latin American roots.

But in recent years, the cultural landscape of the Mission has radically changed. According to the Mission Economic Development Association, 8,000 Latino residents were displaced from the Mission between 2000 and 2013.

When local Latino dancers and choreographers staged performances May 3, 2015, in front of several murals along 24th Street, the act of reclaiming the area’s rich cultural past was as much on display as the street choreography.

“We started these mural dances to bring attention to losing the visibility to the culture that created the Mission,” says Susan Cervantes, founder of Precita Eyes Muralists and a pioneer in the city’s community mural art movement. “So there’s better understanding and more respect.”

Street performances represented Aztec, Mexican folk, and bomba dance traditions. They also drew attention to a collection of murals at the Florida and 24th Street intersection, including the treasured “500 Years Of Resistance” by El Salvadorean muralist Isaias Mata.

Event organizers also unveiled a recently restored mural in the 24th Street mini-park and re-dedicated the work to Ralph Maradiaga, a Chicano arts activist who co-founded Galería de la Raza in 1970 as a place for Mexican American and other Latino artists to show their work.

“For new generations, it’s important to have cultural icons that speak to that legacy,” says Ani Rivera, director of Galería de la Raza.

Galería de la Raza, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Brava Theater Center, and Accion Latina are among several arts organizations located in the 14 blocks around 24th street. Last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors designated the area as the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District .

While the resolution was largely symbolic, it’s a first step for the coalition of arts, business and community leaders working together to preserve the area’s long history of Latino arts and culture.

This summer, the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District leaders plan to seek special use status for the corridor which could help protect the neighborhood against rapid development.

The 3rd Annual Baile en la Calle:
The Mural Dances – was created in 2013 by Brava’s ED, Anastacia Powers Cuellar and Kim Epifano of Epiphany Productions. Baile en la Calle is a tour, guided by a Precita Eyes docent, of the historic murals along the 24th Street corridor brought to life through performances by local choreographers and dance companies. This year’s program is presented by the Calle 24 Cultural District Arts Consortium and will be collaborative celebration honoring Chicano Artist and Empressario Ralph Maradiaga. The tour will visit murals around Florida and 24th Street and will end at the 24th Street mini-park, where an unveiling of a restored Ralph Maradiaga mural and a re-dedication of the mini-park as Ralph Maradiaga Park will follow at 3pm. Performances by Epiphany Productions, Cuicacalli Dance Company, Cuicacalli Escuela de Danza, Loco Bloco, guest choreographer Rebecca Cervantes & Moving Beyond Productions culminating with a community dance with live music by Familia Pena-Govea. Click image above to view printable pdf

______________________________

WALLS OF

RESPECT

Mural Project

We received a grant from the California Arts Council to fund several youth mural projects on 24th Street! Here are our WALLS OF RESPECT Mural Project teachers and students in front of Carla Wojczuk's mural in Balmy Alley. So excited to see the new murals in our community created by our neighborhood youth!

Photo credit Nancy Pili.

_____________________________

Calle 24 SF Latino

Cultural Disctrict

invites you to a joint session with Calle 24 SF LCD Council to review the final draft of priorities and governance of the Latino Cultural District

Tuesday January 27, 2015

6:30pm to 8pm.

Brava Theatre

2781 24th Street @ York, San Francisco

______________________________

Precita Eyes Muralists Add Color to

Psychiatric Ward

For the past few weeks, the staff and patients of the Psychiatric Ward on the 7th floor of San Francisco General Hospital have watched the gray concrete walls of the patio transformed into three brightly colored murals – Recovery, Wellness and Health.

Precita Eyes founder Susan Cervantes and her crew of artists and volunteers finished up their work this week. “It really uplifts the place, it’s really vibrant,” said Emily, who is part of the staff and walked into the patio briefly to congratulate Cervantes who was recently featured in the California Lottery Project Believe documentary series profiling Californians who make a difference. (Visit CABelieves.com to watch the videos)

The three murals, commissioned by the General Hospital Heart Foundation, replaced more faded ones and depict a common goal. The “Recovery” mural, for example, features a man flying a red kite in the shape of a Phoenix that rises to recovery. It also portrays a group of people drumming and playing soccer under a yellow sun.

“This one catches my attention because there are people drumming around,” said Hugo Calderón, a counselor who has been working at the Psychiatric Ward since April of last year. He helps outpatients get ready to go into the workforce.

The “Wellness” mural stars a radiant red heart inscribed with the word love. Around it, a family and butterflies dance and flit. Two children play by a tree. Buildings dedicated to love, such as the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower surround the family, which sits beneath a rainbow.

“It’s nice not to just have concrete walls, its nice to have color in a locked facility,” he said.

Cervantes’ son Suaro who is one of the artists helping out with the murals, says that this facility has a special meaning to him because two of his good friends spent some time here. He’s glad to add color to the walls, which share the patio space with a garden, a green maze drawn on the floor, a basketball hoop, a couple of tables and some comfy heavy duty chairs set in a circle for drumming activities.

“If they [staff and patients] get excited and want to plan something, we are up for it,” said Cervantes when asked if there would be some kind of celebration to welcome the murals into the 7th floor community.

The planning for the mural began last October with staff and patients actively involved in the process. They participated in workshops to develop the ideas and themes that the mural would ultimately include. Some patients seemed responsive to having their ideas represented in the murals, others were a bit shy, said Cervantes.

With everyone’s input the team decided on three themes: Recovery, Wellness and Health or essentially what the staff and patients are working together to achieve.The team also decided on three revolving elements: the Earth, Sky and Water. With these foundations, the staff and the artists determined the murals’ final composition.

“There is a lot of food represented from different places, [and] a sailboat with a family. It’s like there is an event taking place that you are witness to,” said Cervantes of the murals’ Health design. “The fish represent people and harmony going toward their goal.”

Each mural has uplifting quotes from people like Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King and the three theme words are displayed in several languages. “It speaks to everyone,” said Calderón. Cervantes says the process of making the murals is also meant to be therapeutic. Every Tuesday, during that recreational time, patients could work one-on-one with the artist and volunteers. “I think of art as healing. It’s more transformative than anything and changes people’s lives,” said Cervantes.

As for Calderón, his favorite of the three murals is the one entitled Recovery because, “We are all trying to find ways to get back to our normal ways.”

California Arts Council Invests
in Innovative Arts Projects Designed to Boost Local Economies

SACRAMENTO – The California Arts Council will support seven additional projects through its new program, Creative California Communities. This program was formed in early 2014 with the goal of transforming communities by harnessing arts and culture as a key economic development strategy.

This unique event puts the art collecting experience in the hands of the general public. By bringing local artists into neighborhood venues, Passport attendees can “create” their own limited-edition artist’s book by collecting original, artist-designed stamps in a customized “passport” notebook. Walking throughout Calle 24 , the Mission’s new cultural corridor, from noon to 4 p.m., hundreds of do-it-yourself art collectors will follow a designated route to collect stamps from hot Bay Area artists while discovering the small businesses that line one of the Mayor’s Invest in Neighborhood corridors.

This fall, Passport will be celebrating its sixth anniversary. SFAC Galleries has been able to support its mission of making contemporary art accessible to broad audiences through this annual event. Over the past five years, Passport has taken over The Divisadero Corridor (2013), North Beach (2012), the Castro (2011), Hayes Valley (2010) and The Mission (2009), and worked with 50 local Bay Area artists including Barry McGee, Claire Rojas, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, partnered with 65 San Francisco neighborhood businesses and venues, managed hundreds of community volunteers and sold 1340 passports.

A collection of over 50 mandala paintings by Henry Sultan, representing a lifetime of work. colorful and varied, these mandalas range in style from abstract geometric forms to visual narratives. In his work, Sultan explores color and shape, presenting square, circular, and diamond mandalas in every conceivable hue.

Come and join us for Henry Sultan’s first book signing for “The Art of the Mandala”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 2, 2014 – The Mexican Museum, announces that the Museum, in conjunction with Millennium Partners, is working with Precita Eyes Muralists Assoc., Inc. to conduct a community-oriented design process that will result in a mural that will grace the barricade fence at the 706 Mission St. construction site.

This will be the new home of The Mexican Museum and Millennium Partners’ Residential Tower in downtown San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens Arts District. The Mexican Museum is the premier West Coast museum of Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latin American and Latino art, culture and heritage.

PASTA POMODORO
WILL DONATE 20% OF YOUR BILL TO
IT’S OUR WAY OF GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY!

*Prior to ordering, please present this flyer to your server. We require one flyer per table. Upon completion of the Pasta
Partnership, we will send a cash donation to your Charitable (501c or non-profit) Organization representing 20% of all qualified
guest receipts received during the Partnership period. A guest receipt is defined as the restaurant receipt excluding tax and gratuity
(i.e. subtotal). Due to the nature of the Pasta Partnership, no additional discount(s) can be applied or allowed during the visit.
Click small flyer above, print pdf and bring into restaurant.

Be one of the first to participate in a special new tour, “The Balmy Alley Experience!” Meet your guide at the Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center, 2981 24th Street, near Harrison Street at 1pm. This summer-only tour highlights the Balmy Alley mural environment as interpreted by artist/muralist Henry D. Sultan. The mural walk takes approximately 30 minutes.

Whether they be political messages, outpourings of talent or graffiti, murals add colour to a space, and paint a vocabulary that speaks of non-conformism and attitude in San Francisco. The walls are canvases in a constant state of flux depending on which artists have got their brushes or spray cans out, making their point about life in California’s most densely populated city. By Aruna Srinivasan

On the day that I explored the city, I found a mural near the junction of Folsom and 10th streets, which portrayed a young girl with her expressions of love. A pair of giant eyeballs stared at me from a wall on Market Street in the financial district, while a Mughal palace was perched imperiously on the walls of the top floor of that building. Elsewhere, graffiti on a collage of news clips pointed out this random statistic: “By the time you finish reading this, five out of 10 people bought something they did not need.”

Not sure if I bought that last piece of advice, since some murals are used to express personal views, while others become platforms for social concerns. While they can be found across the city, Mission District seems to be the mecca for muralists, and is also a tourist draw.

Susan Cervantes, founder of Precita Eyes Muralists Association (www.precitaeyes.org), an inner city, community-based organisation of muralists in San Francisco, traces it back to the early ’70s when the phenomenon started as a result of the civil rights movement, with Latinos in the neighbourhood rediscovering their indigenous and mural heritage. The results have changed the drab environment with colour and reflection of the cultural diversity in the area. “It has since spread to all regions, nationally and internationally,” she explains.

For Morgan Bricca, another mural artist who mostly does commissioned works, the reason also lies in San Francisco’s liberal image: “The murals capture the plurality of voices, experiences and opinions of the artists that create them.” Morgan also thinks that many of the public murals in San Francisco are political in nature. “I think this is typical for murals from Mexico, and so much Hispanic influence in California and the Bay area...murals by and for the people that reflect the values of the people.“

Not all murals in the city are individual and spontaneous expressions. Some are commissioned by individuals or communities. The mural of an Ohlone Village, (Native American village) painted on the Main Street Bridge in Las Gatos, a county near San Francisc, was commissioned by the town planners and created by many volunteers.

Street art or graffiti is popular in the city since you only need the owners’ approval. “Some of them are of amazing quality, and some others are just tagging and territorial nonsense,” Susan observes. Sometimes it is very difficult to get permission to paint on any wall. A shop owner might allow an artist to paint the side of the building for better aesthetic look.

As not all the works are paid for, the quality might vary. The materials used in these paintings are usually spray paints and acrylic. Precita Eyes’ artists sometimes create their works on mosaic, and combine technics like bronze relief.

For Susan, it is a mission of 40 years. “I started painting murals because they are accessible to everyone, bringing art into the lives of the communities we serve. Involving the community in the process has changed lives, built closer communities and bonded individuals who never would otherwise have mutual respect and tolerance for each other’s ideas.”

This dude's head was bangin' as he sprayed. We're not sure how he managed to make it look so good.

Oakland got plenty of love too.

Some of the art boards were for everyone to paint, leading to some dooby-ous results. (Get it? Ha!)

Xavier Schmidt, one of the event's organizers, said this high schooler is a real up and comer in the graffiti scene.

A San Francisco robot takes down a Google Glass wearing tech-zilla.

Mmmm, donuts.

Hazel Rose performed a bombastic set that the crowd, below, felt all sorts of love for.

Normally the sound of 20 or so artists rattling and spraying aerosol cans would be quickly followed by the sound of sirens. But Sat/19 the fades went up with gusto.

Artists tagged free standing art boards at Precita Park for the Urban Youth Arts Festival, an event that brings the ultimate underground art into a safe space. Attendees munched on burgers and listened to some good tunes at the festival, which is now in its 18th year.

Many of the street style murals paid homage to the Bay Area, from SF to Oakland. "We're showing our love to the aesthetic of the community," Xavier Schmidt, a 25-year-old organizer of the event and SF native, told us. One muralist hand painted a robot adorned in SF Giants and 49ers gear punching out a Google Glass-wearing Godzilla.

"We've been doing this since 1987," Schmidt said, speaking to the event's roots. Even the event's hosts, the Precita Eyes Muralists Association, have deep SF bonafides: they've been around since 1977.

"This is for solidarity, for community," he said. "It's a family event."

Kids sprayed paint and played, adults kicked back and kvetched about youngsters, SF natives complained about tech employees, and many chowed down on burgers, hot dogs, and veggies donated by the local YMCA. Local musicians A-1 and Hazel Rose came out to play too, adding the head-banging element to the day. We've embedded one of A-1's tracks below. Consider it your photo gallery soundtrack.

Names of the artists have been withheld because callin' them out on the internet would be wack. All photos by Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez.

____________________________________

Creativity Flows at Graffiti Arts Festival

MissionLocal
By Leslie Nguyen-Okwu
Posted July 20, 2014 6:00 am

Dozens of community artists wielding paint brushes and spray cans celebrated street art at the 18th Annual Urban Youth Arts Festival on Saturday. The festival, organized by Precita Eyes, invited artists of all ages to express themselves on 1,000 square feet of portable wall space at Precita Park on Precita Avenue near Folsom Street. Like street art itself, the canvases are ephemeral—they’re recycled from year to year.

____________________________________

18th Annual Urban Youth Arts Festival

18 Years Strong!Saturday, July 19: 12pm - 6 pm

Precita Park
500 Precita Ave

San Francisco, California 94110

Live Art, Live Music, Food, Community, Family friendly.

Open to all, come celebrate youth/community/street art. share your skills and paint with some the bay areas best
Bridge the gap: New and Experienced artists encouraged to participate... Bring your own paint.
Limited space.

If you are a community / youth organization thats wants to outreach during the festival email us as well and we can set up a table for you!
Also artists that want to display their art/clothing during the event shoot us a email.

MC: BIANCA STAR

Live Music:
EQUIPTO
DAVINCI
AMBUSH
MONK
HAZEL L
A-1
SAC MASTA

...and more!

Volunteers needed for the UYA festival!
Please help us Set Up/Break down
Please contact Linda at sflindad@pacbell.net

Calle 24 Latino Cultural District

June 16, 2014 Calle 24 Community leaders and representatives including Precita Eyes Muralists, Founding Director, Susan Kelk Cervantes, were invited to Mayor Ed Lee’s office to witness the historic signing of the declaration designating Calle 24 Cultural Corridor the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.
Calle 24 San Francisco, the San Francisco Latino Historical Society, San Francisco Heritage, and the Offices of Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor David Campos worked together in an effort to designate the Calle 24 (“Veinticuatro”) Latino Cultural District. The purpose of the designation is to stabilize the displacement of Latino businesses and residents, preserve Calle 24 as the center of Latino culture and commerce, enhance the unique nature of Calle 24 as a special place for San Francisco’s residents and tourists, and ensure that the City of San Francisco and interested stakeholders have an opportunity to work collaboratively on a community planning process.

Susan Cervantes was invited by Fororten i Centrum in Stockholm and City Art Lab in Goteborg to visit and share her experience and stories from the years of working with community to paint murals. Here are highlights from the trip.

Welcome to an Explosion of Colours
and a Journey into
Community Mural Art
and Social Change

Susan Cervantes, founder of Precita Eyes Muralists, poses for a portrait while working with her group as they put the finishing touches on their newest mural titled "Bean Soup" at the arts complex Project Artaud in San Francisco, CA, Sunday, December 22, 2013. Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle.
Mural Matriarch Susan Cervantes

Makes it Big in Art

Sam Whiting, Published 6:20 pm, SFGate, Saturday, January 4, 2014

At sunset on the Sunday before Christmas, Susan Cervantes, the quiet queen of San Francisco wall art, is among the painters putting the finishing touches on the longest community mural of her long career. She drops down to the pavement on both knees, dips her brush in dark blue and in the bottom corner prints the words "Precita Eyes Muralists."

"I'm not too good at it," says Cervantes, 69, who has had some 500 murals to practice this signature on, but she still smudges the M as her sons Suaro and Monte watch. "Not too fancy - just simple letters. That's the way we've always done it."

The unflashy Cervantes doesn't make a big deal out of it, but murals are all about symbols, and there is symbolism in this moment. Before Precita Eyes was a Mission District arts center with a paid staff of 13 part-timers and with 7,000 visitors and 3,000 students a year, this is all it was - a signature, in the hand of Cervantes, who made up the name Precita Eyes Muralists decades ago on the spot.

"We didn't know it was going to last this long - 36 years," she says. Now murals painted by Precita Eyes - where Cervantes is both artist and overseer - are at public schools, hospitals and recreation centers, done in acrylic paint or ceramic tile, from Hunters Point to the Richmond District.

Muralists, Suaro Cervantes, Naoki Onodera, Xavier Schmidt, Max Martilla, and Yukako Ezoe created a live mural painting on Friday, November 8th and Saturday, November 9th, 2013, at 1425 Folsom St. (click on images for larger versions)

As an inner city, community-based mural arts organization, Precita Eyes Muralists Association seeks to enrich and beautify urban environments and educate communities locally and internationally about the process and the history of public community mural art. We maintain a deep commitment to collaborating with the various communities we serve. Our dedication to collaboration guarantees that creative work produced is accessible, both physically and conceptually, to the people whose lives it impacts. We intend to bring art into the daily lives of people through a process which enables them to reflect their particular concerns, joys and triumphs.

________________________________________________________________

Historic public artwork

in the Mission District restored!

500 Years of Resistance mural painting continues to inspire local community and visitors from all over the world.

Event: Community ceremony and rededication for newly restored mural 500 Years of Resistance

Location: St. Peter’s Rectory, in front of the mural at 24th and Florida Street, in the Mission District of San Francisco

As an inner city, community-based mural arts organization, Precita Eyes Muralists Association seeks to enrich and beautify urban environments and educate communities locally and internationally about the process and the history of public community mural art. We maintain a deep commitment to collaborating with the various communities we serve. Our dedication to collaboration guarantees that creative work produced is accessible, both physically and conceptually, to the people whose lives it impacts. We intend to bring art into the daily lives of people through a process which enables them to reflect their particular concerns, joys and triumphs.

Gala Benefit & Art Auction:
Rebirth & Renewal continues!

Thank you to everyone who made our 35th Anniversary Celebration and Gala Benefit & Art Auction at the Meridian Gallery such a fabulous and eventful evening!

Our special thanks go to the sponsors, artists, supporters, staff, volunteers, performers and musicians, and especially to our wonderful guests!

Your support enables us to make art accessible to all through the unifying collaboration of the mural arts.

In Community,

The Precita Eyes Board of Directors

Sponsored by:

The Sultan
Family Trust
______________________
Alfredo Pedroza
and Wayne Bautista

Keeping in our tradition of honoring our muralist colleagues, we recognized and paid tribute to artist Estria Miyashiro, once a Precita Eyes Muralists Youth Arts Coordinator. During the evening’s program, we celebrated Estria with the “Cultural Warrior Award” for his contributions to community mural art as a community leader who awakens the social and political consciousness of graffiti art.

In our 35th year, Precita Eyes Muralists honored its Founding Director and Master Muralist, Susan Kelk Cervantes.
Susan is a dedicated artist, and a pioneer of the San Francisco Mission District community mural art movement founded over 50 years ago. Susan along with her late husband, artist Luis Cervantes, established Precita Eyes Muralists in 1977. Influenced by the Mujeres Muralistas, the first collaborative group of women muralists, Susan applies the same process of accessible, community art to all ages and abilities. Along with Precita Eyes Muralists, Susan painted more than 500 collaborative murals considered some of the finest in the country.